Hampshire Stays Quiet Despite Riot Rumours

Hampshire Police have thanked people across Hampshire for acting responsibly during the rioting in London and other cities.

There were no reports of any problems in Hampshire or the Isle of Wight last night that related to the disorder in London.

Police have issued a statement from Chief Superintendent Karen Manners, who's leading Hampshire’s response to the events in London and its impact on policing in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight:

“From a mutual aid perspective, we are continuing to support our colleagues in the Metropolitan Police Service today and we will continue to support them for the rest of the week.

“The officers we’re sending to London are all specialist public order trained and are part of our mutual aid policing commitment nationally.

“They form part of our contingency planning and therefore their deployment does not affect policing strength to the communities of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

"We are still able to maintain our presence in policing the communities across the two countiesand are prepared to respond if required.”

“We’re using social networking sites to help reassure people who are understandably concerned about how the events in London may impact our communities.

“We’re aware that such sites and networks are also being used to encourage copycat riots and we’ve reason to believe that some of these threats are being made by teenagers who don't quite realise the implications of their words.

“If you are publishing messages encouraging violence, you need to know you can expect a visit from the police.

"We would ask parents also to help us keep the communities safe by making sure you know what your children are doing online.

"Please be vigilant and help us to put an end to this.

“We’ve already spoken to individuals in relation to this and at this time no arrests have been made.

“We will continue to robustly investigate anyone who is using social network sites to generate or incite violence and disorder.”

"The public response in support of police has been tremendous. Everyone is acting responsibly.

“We do understand that people, having watched the national media, may be concerned but our streets are safe, and we are concentrating all of our efforts on keeping it that way.

“You should go about your business as usual, and if anything should change we will update you as swiftly as possible. Please do report any concerns to us by calling 101.

“Your local policing teams are dedicated to keeping your community safe.”

You can follow the Hampshire Constabulary Facebook page and on Twitter @HantsPolice. Hampahire officers have been using Twitter very effectively to reassure people and scotch false rumours of trouble. They've picked up around 8,000 new followers in the past 48 hours.